Peanut butter has the potential to save lives of severely malnourished children every year, a new study has revealed.

While working in a Malawi village in 1999, Pediatrician Dr Mark Manary found that peanut butter, which is full of vitamins and nutrients, can be a solution to save millions, News.com.au reported.

Manary made a ready-made mixture, or ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), and found 95 per cent of children had recovered from malnutrition within six weeks of eating the peanut butter paste.

He told the publication that RUTF can treat severe malnutrition anywhere on the planet.

The research said that his team has treated more than 100,000 severely malnourished children with on average 90 per cent recovery.

His nutrient-rich mixture has even been endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the best way to treat malnutrition.

Manary said the peanut butter paste, which contains easy to digest mono-unsaturated fats and is rich in zinc and protein, also meant mothers could treat their children in the own home.

Project Peanut Butter is aiming to save two million children by 2015.